


Mine

by steggyisimmortal



Series: Shield and Gun [16]
Category: Agent Carter - Fandom, Captain America (Movies)
Genre: F/M, First POV
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-26
Updated: 2018-02-26
Packaged: 2019-03-10 05:58:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13496250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/steggyisimmortal/pseuds/steggyisimmortal
Summary: A lab rat, a soldier, a dancing monkey, a kid from Brooklyn, a good man - Steve Rogers is all of these things but are they the product of himself or someone else?





	Mine

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the line: _"You’re mine as long as you know who you belong to."_

* * *

I always knew my formula would work.  Sometimes I’m not convinced it’s a good thing I ever thought of it but I knew I could make it work.  I was simply missing two key ingredients – Howard Stark’s Vita Rays and a good soul. 

 

A truly good soul.

 

When I heard the way you spoke at the Expo I knew you were the perfect person for the full test. 

 

I initially thought of my formula for another cause.  I wanted to end the suffering of my people.  Not just my people but with Hitler rising in power, our morale wasn’t exactly high.  Neither was the health of so many.  But I never got the chance to perfect it before it was stolen from me for an evil purpose.  It pained me to leave my people in the wake of so much destruction and hate but I knew I needed to figure it out before there was no one left to save.

 

I praised Abram a million times over for sending Peggy Carter to rescue me before more evil could be done.

 

So I worked tirelessly day and night to find what I was missing.  I was introduced to Howard Stark.  His genius shed a light on my project and together we invented something that has the potential to save mankind.

 

But the threat of evil still lingers in the back of my mind.  I do not trust this project in anyone’s hands but my own. 

 

I am confident in my choice.  You are not the first to undergo the effects of my serum and I hope you will not be the last.  Though I have faith in my work, I know I cannot credit it alone for your success.

 

You are a good man. 

 

You stand for what’s right.  You speak for those without a voice.  You want to play your role in society just as I do.  Not because you are the best choice but because you owe it to yourself and others to try your hardest, whether you fail or not.  You will give your all to save and help anyone you can.

 

I hope now you will have the tools you need to go forth and create the best world you can.  I hope others will listen to you in the way you deserve to be heard.  I believe you have the best people around you to help you achieve that.  But it will be a while before this project can grow.  A good soul is not easy to find.  You are the second.  Money cannot buy it or create it, no matter what the senator would like to think.  For you, my next subject, I searched for over a year.  If I cannot find another, while the army will be angry, I know I’ll sleep soundly knowing the two of you exist. 

 

I’m glad I have done what I can for you. 

 

I know the world won’t be disappointed.

 

* * *

 

Holy shit it worked.  I just made a person.

 

Well, I didn’t “make” a person in the traditional, fun sense of the term but he doesn’t look like he did when he went in the pod.  This is better than what Dr. Erskine and I predicted. 

 

I better patent this stuff.

 

All right, so Dr. Erskine was the brains behind the majority of this project but he admitted he didn’t think it would be a success without my contribution.  These Vita Rays might change the world someday. 

 

I gotta say I really doubted his choice.  You’re such a skinny guy I figured you’d break the minute the needles touched you.  I thought Peggy was outta her mind, too.  She’s a smart lady but I couldn’t believe she approved you.  I’ll be the first to admit I know nothing about you.  Dr. Erskine gave me a brief run through but my mind was elsewhere.  The nurses walked in the room at that moment and one of them was giving me the eye. 

 

I caught the gist of what he was saying, though.  Sick kid, good man.  I figured he knew what he was doing so I kept my trap shut.  I’m glad he was right.  You don’t look at all like that Red Skull guy he was telling me about. 

 

Of course, it’s only been a minute so I guess time’ll tell. 

 

I can’t believe I had a hand in this.  I never could have dreamed of inventing a formula that changed the genetic makeup of a person.  I gotta get him to write that thing down.  The applications this thing could have.  The possibilities are endless.  I don’t even know where to start.  It doesn’t even have to be with this super soldier army the military is trying for.  Think about it – vaccines, medicine, cures.  We may have busted genetics wide open. 

 

I can’t wait to get a sample of your blood to see the molecular changes.  It’s not really my area of expertise but I’m sure the doctor can tell me what I need to know.  I’m sure I can find a way to market it towards the masses.  It’ll come at a pretty penny but I think my pockets can take it.  I’ll make sure the doc gets his share but I think Stark Industries just found its next sector.

* * *

 I knew this would pay off.  I told them this was a worthy investment.  They didn’t want to believe me but I knew I saw a star in you. 

 

I wasn’t a firm believer in the project but that was before I saw what it could produce.  Everyone was so vague in their wording; I couldn’t just give full funding to something that hadn’t even been tested.  I would have been the laughing stock of D.C. 

 

Now, I wasn’t impressed when I first saw you.  I have a sister-in-law who was bigger than you when she was eight.  I’ve seen the pictures.  They’re not flattering. 

 

I thought you’d break the minute you got in that contraption but I’ll be damned if you didn’t come out almost a foot taller looking like you were training to be America’s newest heavyweight.

 

It’s a shame we only got one of you but I couldn’t let you be rushed off to some lab in the middle of nowhere.  I needed someone to help me peddle war bonds to get Senator McNary off my back. 

 

And push them you did.  I couldn’t have asked for a better sales person.  America ate you up everywhere we went.  Kids looked up to you.  Women wanted you.  Men wanted to be you.  Bond sales were up ten percent every time we hopped on the train to go to the next city. 

 

Take that, McNary. 

 

Reports were coming in from the front in Europe saying morale was low.  The fight had been going on longer than any of us thought.  Another holiday season was approaching and still our men were overseas.  I thought a visit from ‘America’s New Hope’ would cheer them up.

 

I didn’t know you were gonna go rogue and rescue hundreds of POWs from Hydra.

 

It made for some great headlines back home.

 

I can’t wait to introduce you to the press as Captain America when I present you the medal for valor.  My face will look great next to yours on the front page of every paper tomorrow.

 

* * *

 

I hate watching these damn film reels. 

 

It feels like a waste of my time.  This is why I hate coming to London.  It doesn’t help command is located here but usually the bigwigs are focused with the home front and selling war bonds.  I can come and go as I please.  The SSR is pretty good at flying under the radar.

 

I hate being shuffled in here with the other colonels and generals and whatever other officers they round up for the week.  I make sure I always bring Agent Carter with me.  If I gotta suffer through it, she does, too.  She hates the reels and the stuffy suits as much as I do.  At least I can use her as an excuse to leave early every once in a while.  The woman has connections in damn near every agency in existence.  We’re always gettin’ intelligence from somewhere.

 

At least this week’s film reel is about our people so maybe I don’t have to feign much of an interest.  It’s not that I don’t like seeing the work our men and women are doing on the front but they design these films to be light and fluffy.  I’d rather be on the front lines myself than watch men load bombs and women pack bullets. 

 

Instead of the type of film my wife would love, we’re treated to Captain America and his Howling Commandos.    

 

I didn’t want to approve the film crew but you were adamant it was all right.  Everyone was eager to get their eyes on you and your team.  Agent Carter and I weren’t. 

 

You put them on strict boundaries, though.  I gotta hand it to you.  Your head’s on straight.  I won’t ever admit this to your face - not yet anyway - but you have a great strategic mind I know you got from all those books you lug around.  God knows you don’t listen to anyone ‘cept Carter.  That’s a relationship I turn the other cheek on.  The less I know the better.

 

So the film crew was only allowed to film certain moments.  Did they have to film so much running, though?  I coulda done without this.  There’s a lot of smilin’ and laughin’ that I know isn’t faked.  You picked a good crew.  I never woulda thought of these guys for you but you work well together.  You’ve taken out a coupla Hydra bases so the SSR can’t really complain. 

 

I didn’t think anything of you when I first saw you.  I remember thinking Erskine was pulling my leg.  Everyone else brought me an average looking guy in build.  He brought me a skinny, short guy whose helmet barely fit on his head.  I was ready to write you off after the first day.

 

This program took a long time to throw together.  Once I was roped into it, I was committed to make it work.  I expected the best from the people around me.  I promised my wife I wouldn’t be gone for too long; I promised her I’d come home in one piece.  The doc was always spouting off to me about ‘the perfect being’ but the doc had never been in a war before.  I knew what I needed.  I didn’t need a nice guy.  I needed a soldier.  I figured I could find that anywhere.  Plenty of men were signing up.  I didn’t know it would take two years to get the program up and running.  None of us knew we’d only get one shot at it. 

 

Turns out there’s nothin’ average about you.

 

You’re a fighter.  You kept pushing and trying and while I was ready to write you off, you kept giving us all a reason why we shouldn’t.

 

You’re a stubborn son of a bitch.  I’m surrounded by stubborn people.  My wife warned me this would happen one day. 

 

I’m glad the doc and Carter talked me out of Hodge.  He’s a decent soldier but he woulda been a lackluster you.  He doesn’t know self-sacrifice the way you do. 

 

I’m glad you were the ‘perfect being’ the doc needed.  I’m glad I had a hand in finding you and shaping you to be what America needed.  Most of it was you, though.  Don’t ever let anyone tell you otherwise.  Hope is a fickle thing but it’s hard not to have any when people hear you talk.  It’s sickening to hear you talk sometimes but it’s what the troops need.  It’s what America needs.  I’m proud of you and I know the doc would be, too.

 

I see you let them film a strategy meeting.  I hate when they try to zoom in on the map.  I’ve told them a hundred times –

 

Wait now.  Not the map.  That compass you always keep on you.

 

Well well well.  You look like you’re regretting your decision to let the film crew tag along.  Agent Carter looks like she’s trying to blend in with the chair she’s in. 

 

I like ya both but I can’t wait to bust your chops about this when I see you later. 

 

I guess even Captain America can make mistakes sometimes.

 

That’s a satisfying thought.

 

* * *

 

I love the sight of you like this.  Relaxed and content.  At least I hope you’re content.  I like to think that we’re coming to know one another quite well.  Every moment that we get to spend like this helps tremendously.  It’s not easy falling in love in the middle of a war.

 

No, that’s not entirely true.

 

It’s easy to fall in love.  People do it every day.  It’s easier in times such as these.  Gratitude and infatuation are mistaken for love and suddenly two people are left to traverse the narrow mine field of whether they were ever in like with one another. 

 

No, love is easy.

 

Getting to know someone in these conditions is difficult.

 

One never wants to get close to another person but one’s faith and trust must be placed in the hands of so many.  One relies on them to keep themselves safe while they do the same.  People – friends – can be lost in the blink of an eye, though.  We tell ourselves it’s easier to say goodbye if we don’t know their favorite meal or their most cherished memory. 

 

But enough of that sadness.  Focusing on the present is much more pleasant when such a delicacy is laid out before me.

 

You had some fan mail you’d forgotten in your pack.  Some are from children but a large number of them are from women.  You always read every letter and postcard you receive.  You answer every one, too.  I love that about you. 

 

You have a hard time getting rid of anything anyone sends you.  To my annoyance that includes women who send you their photographs.  You don’t keep them because you get your jollies looking at them.  This I know for a fact.  You told me you can’t throw them away because you hate the thought of throwing away a photograph a woman went to such lengths to send to you.  The boys love that you never throw them away but they grow quite cross with you because you never willingly share them either.  More than once I’ve caught them rifling through your things in search of said photographs. 

 

I, on the other hand, have no qualms against throwing things away.  The only photograph you’ll be looking at is my own, thank you very much.

 

From the moment you graced the newspaper in Brooklyn, you ceased to belong solely to yourself.  Then, you were a mysterious hero.  That slowly changed when you began your USO tour.  Suddenly there was a persona to attach to the mysterious man.  People had a name, albeit the wrong one.  Captain America was born and a legacy began to form.  When you officially joined the war effort on the front, the papers went crazy for their national hero.  America’s New Hope, they dubbed you.

 

America may think you belong to them.  The SSR may think that as well.  The truth is you’re mine.  From now until the end of time, you belong solely to me.  Just as I belong solely to you.

 

I slide back into my small bed next to you.  You push everything aside and pull me close to you.  Your arms wrap around my body and again I’m thankful I stole your undershirt for my trip to my tiny bathroom to freshen up. 

 

Breaks are rare.  It’s not often we have downtime where we can leave command.  Normally our time is filled filing backlogged paperwork or a poker game that never seems to stop.  It’s not as if we can take day trips and sight see. 

 

I curl up to you now, my nose pressed firmly against the vein in your neck, and inhale deeply.  You smell of my perfume now but under that I can smell your unique scent.  I love it.  It’s warm and clean and manly.  In your arms anything feels possible.

* * *


End file.
